


Natural Tendencies

by via_ostiense



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Hurt/Comfort, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2006-01-15
Updated: 2006-01-15
Packaged: 2017-10-15 17:33:42
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,341
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/163186
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/via_ostiense/pseuds/via_ostiense
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It hurts," Sirius said. "Right behind my last teeth," he poked at it again, "like thomething tharp ith there."</p>
            </blockquote>





	Natural Tendencies

**Author's Note:**

  * For [moony](https://archiveofourown.org/users/moony/gifts).



> For moony, who is suffering from tooth extraction of the very painful variety and deserves puppies kissing to make her feel better. The title's from "Dentist!" from Little Shop of Horrors.

It was a hot, lazy August afternoon and Sirius basked in the warm sunlight, sleepy and thinking of nothing in particular. He heard footsteps approaching and the screen door creaked. He opened his eyes to see Remus maneuvering the door with his foot, holding two cups in his hands.

"What've you got there?" Sirius asked. He sat up on the porch and cocked his head at Remus.

"Granitas," Remus answered. He handed one of the cups over to Sirius and then flopped down on the porch steps. "Coffee granitas. You freeze espresso and crush it up with some cream." Remus tipped his head back and let some of the dark, coffee-smelling stuff slide into his mouth. Sirius swallowed, watching Remus close his eyes and roll the ice around inside his mouth. Sirius' mug was sweating fat drops and he felt as if he were going to do the same.

"Best thing ever on a hot day." Remus opened his eyes and gestured at Sirius' mug. "Try it."

Sirius was dubious about the granita thing; he knew from experience that cold coffee was nasty stuff and he didn't think that it would be much different frozen. Still, he lifted his mug and let some ice fall onto his tongue. He shut his eyes at the first burst of flavour, which was rich and bitter like coffee, but somehow the freezing had made it so much better. As it melted, the taste exploded on his tongue and up into his nose, waking him from his sun-induced daze. After the first mouthful had gone down, Sirius opened his eyes and looked at Remus. "Wow, that's good." He had a second mouthful and crunched the ice.

"Ow!" The back of his mouth, the bump of gum behind the teeth farthest back, hurt. Sirius swallowed quickly and poked his finger in behind his teeth. He prodded the lump of gum and felt something hard and sharp underneath the surface. "Ow!"

"What is it?" Remus looked curious. It wasn't that unusual for Sirius to be sticking his fingers in his mouth, but it was more often accompanied by googly eyes and his tongue sticking out at some first year.

"It hurts," Sirius said. "Right behind my last teeth," he poked at it again, "like thomething tharp ith there."

"Oh, that's probably your wisdom teeth growing in," Remus said, relaxing. "I got mine taken out last summer, you haven't had yours done?"

"Wisdom teeth?" Sirius looked at Remus blankly. "What? And what do you mean, taking them out?" Teeth, he'd thought, were meant to stay inside one's mouth. Even if they'd gotten knocked out in a fistfight, Madam Pomfrey put them back in where they belonged. "They hurt a little at the beginning of the year, but it went away."

"They're these teeth that you don't usually need," Remus said. "Come on, I'll have Dad make you a dentist's appointment."

 

Sirius huddled into his blanket. It was sweltering hot and he was stripped down to his boxers and sweating, but he felt like he needed to cuddle something. "Owwww," he moaned. "Owww." His mouth felt enormous and it kept bleeding and it felt so hot. "Reeemuth," he moaned.

Remus came into the bedroom with two glasses, one full of water and the other one empty. He sat down on the bed and ran a hand over Sirius' forehead. Sirius was torn between leaning into it and biting it off. "Here, have some water," Remus said. "Don't swallow, it's got salt in it."

Sirius glared at him. "Frothen cohee, teeth tha aren thuppothed to be in ma mou, and water I'm thuppothed to drink bu no thwallow? What'th next?"

Remus looked at him sympathetically. "I know it hurts, Padfoot, I've already had mine done and I couldn't eat anything solid for a week."

Sirius kept glaring. "It'th all your fault."

Remus held the glass of water up to his mouth. "How's it my fault? Swish it around a while, then spit gently into this cup."

The salt water was bitter, but the warmth was soothing on Sirius' gums, which felt three times as big as they should have. He'd never noticed his gums before, but now he couldn't stop feeling them throb with his pulse. Ow, ow, ow, for every heartbeat. He carefully spit and sank back into his pillow, not looking at Remus. "All your faul. You're the one tha made me go to the dentitht." Sirius said the last word with all the loathing he could muster in his battered, bruised spirit. Dentists were evil people, he was convinced, sadists who'd channeled their deviant desires into a profession and then convinced people to come see them.

The bed creaked as Remus moved until he was sitting next to Sirius' head. A cool hand settled on his shoulder and Remus said, "It's for your own good," and that was so ridiculous that Sirius had to sit up. He pulled his blanket tightly around him and stared at Remus disbelievingly.

"Thith? Thith ith good for me?" Sirius pointed at his jaw and said, "I can' ea anything, can' drink, can' even talk, an i huuurtth." He was hot and sweaty and he leaned closer to Remus with each word. Just so Remus could see how miserable he felt, Sirius opened his mouth wide and said, "Aaaaaaah."

Remus winced. "That's really gross, Padfoot." He put a hand over Sirius' mouth until Sirius shut it. He kept his hand on Sirius' mouth, though, and it felt so good, so cool and dry, that Sirius moved it over to his cheek, right where his mouth hurt the most. He closed his eyes and leaned into it.

"Does that help?" Remus' voice was a little shaky, and Sirius just nodded. Remus' left hand came up to cradle the other side of Sirius' face, and he could feel the fingertips along the lines of his cheekbones, the palms flat over his lower jaw.

Sirius made a small noise and opened his eyes, and Remus was right there in front of him, maybe a few inches away. Remus started to pull back, but Sirius' mouth was going to explode if Remus' hands moved, so he grabbed at Remus and said, "Don'. Move. Your. Handth."

Remus was wide-eyed and looked more than a little nervous, but he nodded. Sirius relaxed, sure that the magic hands wouldn't abandon him, and realized that he was really, really close to Remus. Even closer than they had been before, and Remus was holding his face, and Sirius was feeling feverish and hot and so miserable.

So he leaned in a little more and Remus' eyes didn't have time to widen any further before Sirius' lips were touching his. Remus felt soft and hesitant for a second, then he was kissing Sirius back and even with their mouths closed, this felt so good and so hot and Sirius put his arms around Remus' waist and fell back on the bed. They broke apart, panting, and stared at each other for a bit.

"Uh," said Remus. His face was flushed and his eyes were dilated and Sirius would've bet that his skin didn't feel so cool anymore.

"Urgh," said Sirius. He, on the other hand, felt better than he had before. He reached up at the same moment that Remus leaned down and their mouths met again. They kissed, and kissed, and kissed, and Sirius was still feeling woozy from the stuff the dentist had drugged him up with, but kissing Remus was making him feel more light-headed and breathless than anything he'd had that afternoon.

Remux pulled away and rested his forehead on Sirius'. "Does this feel better?" he asked, stammering a bit. Sirius wanted to laugh at that, but he wanted to kiss Remus more, and besides, he wasn't sure his voice wouldn't sound funny right now, either.

"Yeah, it doeth," Sirius said instead, and he tilted his head to the left and Remus tilted his head the other way, and they fit together like simple puzzle pieces. "Itth perfect."


End file.
